The African Development Fund has approved a $9.82 million grant to strengthen climate-resilient water, sanitation and hygiene services in Eritrea, directing concessional climate finance towards rural water infrastructure, health centres, schools and catchment protection across all six administrative regions. Approved by the Fund’s Board of Directors on September 21, 2026, the Enhancing Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Adaptation Project will be implemented in coordination with the Government of the State of Eritrea and UNICEF, with completion scheduled for December 2030. The financing comes through the Climate Action Window, a specialised mechanism within the African Development Fund, the concessional financing arm of the African Development Bank Group.
The investment places water security and climate adaptation at the centre of essential-services infrastructure at a time when water availability is becoming increasingly exposed to climate variability across parts of Africa. In Eritrea, the challenge is particularly closely linked to rural livelihoods because groundwater supplies provide an important source of water for communities, while declining rainfall, drought and pressure on aquifers can affect domestic consumption, agriculture and livestock. Previous African Development Bank analysis of Eritrea’s water sector identified frequent and severe droughts, declining groundwater recharge and reduced rainfall as pressures affecting water availability, particularly in rural areas.
According to the African Development Fund, the project will finance the construction of 21 complete rural water-supply systems and the rehabilitation and modernisation of 38 rural systems that are currently non-functional. It will also support the rehabilitation and modernisation of WASH facilities in 10 health centres and 12 schools. The infrastructure component includes boreholes, rural water systems, retention dams and earthworks, while tree planting in catchment areas is intended to support the sustainability of water resources.
The scale of the planned rehabilitation is significant because expanding water access is not only a question of building new infrastructure. In many African countries, the performance of rural water systems is also determined by whether existing infrastructure can be maintained, financed and operated over time. Rehabilitating systems that are no longer functional can therefore provide a second pathway to improved service delivery, provided the institutions and communities responsible for operation have the capacity and resources to maintain them after construction work ends.
Mtchera Johannes Chirwa, Director of the African Development Bank Group’s Water and Sanitation Department, said the project is expected to reduce the distance communities travel to obtain drinking water by tenfold, bringing the distance down to about 500 metres. He also said the programme would improve WASH facilities in health centres and schools while strengthening communities’ resilience to climate shocks. Chirwa was appointed to lead the Bank’s Water and Sanitation Department in 2025 after previously serving as acting director and coordinator of the African Water Facility. The Bank says he has more than 30 years of development experience, including extensive work in water and sanitation and development finance across more than 20 countries.
The reduction in the distance required to collect water has economic implications that extend beyond household convenience. Where reliable water sources are far from homes, time spent collecting water can reduce the hours available for education, paid work, farming and other productive activities. Shorter collection distances can therefore improve the effective use of household time, although the eventual economic impact will depend on whether water systems remain functional, affordable and reliable.
The investment in schools and health centres adds another layer to the programme. WASH infrastructure in these institutions can influence the ability of schools and health facilities to operate safely, particularly during periods of environmental stress. A health centre without dependable water and sanitation infrastructure faces operational constraints that can affect infection control and the delivery of basic services, while inadequate facilities in schools can affect attendance and the quality of the learning environment. The African Development Fund’s project therefore treats water and sanitation as part of social infrastructure rather than as an isolated utility investment.
The environmental component is equally important. The project will combine physical water infrastructure with retention dams, earthworks and tree planting in catchment areas. This approach recognises that the resilience of water systems depends partly on the condition of the landscapes and ecosystems surrounding them. Infrastructure can improve the ability to capture, store and distribute water, but deteriorating catchments, declining vegetation and poor water retention can weaken the natural systems on which those investments ultimately depend.
This is particularly relevant to Eritrea, where the African Development Bank has previously identified climate-related pressures on groundwater and surface-water resources. Its country analysis noted that mean annual rainfall had declined by between 20% and 50% in some areas and that reduced rainfall had affected stream flows in several river basins. The same analysis highlighted the dependence of rural populations on groundwater and the potential for climate change to further reduce surface and groundwater resources in dry regions.
For agriculture, these pressures have implications beyond the water sector. Eritrea’s economy and rural livelihoods remain connected to agricultural production, livestock and access to natural resources. Water shortages can affect crop production, livestock productivity and household incomes, while unreliable water infrastructure can increase the cost of maintaining agricultural activity. The African Development Bank’s country strategy for Eritrea has consequently placed climate-smart agriculture, productivity, food security and livelihoods among its areas of engagement.
The Climate Action Window is significant because it allows adaptation priorities to be financed through a concessional development-finance structure. Climate finance in Africa is often discussed in terms of large-scale energy, transport and industrial projects, but adaptation requirements are frequently embedded in smaller and more distributed infrastructure systems. Rural water supply is one such area. The financial return from a borehole, water-storage system or sanitation facility may not resemble that of a conventional commercial infrastructure project, yet the economic value of keeping communities supplied with water can be substantial through its effects on health, livelihoods, education and resilience.
The partnership with UNICEF also reflects the increasingly interconnected nature of climate adaptation and social-service delivery. The African Development Fund is providing the financing, while the Eritrean government and UNICEF are involved in implementation. Such arrangements can combine development-finance resources with government institutions and technical expertise in delivering community-level services. The structure also places institutional capacity alongside physical infrastructure, an important consideration in countries where the long-term performance of water systems can depend on planning, maintenance and local management.
The project’s emphasis on climate knowledge and institutional and human capacity is therefore not peripheral to the investment. Building infrastructure without establishing systems for operation, maintenance, monitoring and climate-informed planning can leave communities exposed to the same risks that the infrastructure was intended to address. The inclusion of capacity development suggests an attempt to address both the physical and institutional dimensions of water resilience.
For Africa more broadly, the Eritrean programme illustrates how climate adaptation can be integrated into basic infrastructure rather than treated as a separate environmental policy agenda. The African Union’s Agenda 2063 identifies environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient economies and communities as a continental goal, with water security, sustainable natural-resource management and preparedness for climate-related disasters among its priority areas. The African Union also links this agenda to access to basic services, resilient infrastructure and inclusive economic development.
The financing also reflects a wider development challenge facing African governments and development institutions: how to protect earlier investments in infrastructure as climate conditions change. Roads, schools, health facilities, irrigation systems and water networks can all face higher maintenance and replacement costs when exposed to drought, flooding, heat and changing rainfall patterns. Incorporating resilience at the design and investment stage can therefore influence the durability of public infrastructure and the future fiscal burden associated with repairing climate-related damage.
For Eritrea, the immediate focus will be implementation across Debub, Maekel, Anseba, Gash Barka, Northern Red Sea and Southern Red Sea. The project’s success will depend not only on whether the 21 new rural water systems and 38 rehabilitated systems are delivered, but also on whether they remain operational, whether catchment measures protect water resources and whether local institutions have the capacity to manage the infrastructure through future climate pressures.
The $9.82 million grant consequently represents more than an investment in WASH infrastructure. It is an adaptation intervention that connects water security with public health, rural productivity, education, environmental management and institutional resilience. Its broader significance for Africa lies in demonstrating how climate finance can be channelled into the everyday infrastructure that determines whether communities and local economies can withstand environmental shocks. As climate pressures increasingly affect the reliability of water resources across the continent, the durability of such systems will become an increasingly important part of both development planning and public investment decisions.
